Fantastic Four - 1 1/2 smiles

The Fantastic Four comics were my favorite growing up so I was looking forward to see this year's version. From what I've read, director Josh Trank was brought in to shake things up. (The powers-that-be didn't want a bright, cheery version, similar to The Avengers). For a Marvel superhero movie, this one is pretty dark, but not necessarily in a good way. The fact the Stan Lee doesn't have a cameo (and he always has a cameo) says how far afield this movie has gone. So let's start with casting Miles Teller as the brainy Reed Richards. He fits the brainy part, but not the superhero physical part. Little time is spent developing the four main characters into three-dimensional people and their interactions are weak at best. There's no sense of camaraderie, especially between Reed and Ben (Jamie Bell), who are supposed to be long-time friends. There's barely a whiff of romance between Reed and Sue (Kate Mara) although maybe there was hope that a sequel would flesh this out. As for Doom (Toby Kebbell), there's nothing of Marvel's most notorious and infamous villains. The pacing is also off, with the first half introducing the characters in a fairly leisurely way and the compressed second half rushing their transformation, their learning to control their powers, their finding and battling Doom. "The Fantastic Four" is adequate entertainment, with hints of a better movie hidden within the script.